Nick Morte is a painter, illustrator, and award-winning tattoo artist. His unique style is consistent across his mediums, mixing photorealism with dark symbols and hallucinatory elements. Featured here is a selection of his paintings, all of which are surrounded by an air of mystery. Death, sensuality, and vulnerability occur interchangeably in the same image, signified by bodies, skulls, and animals that are often associated with decay and transformation (notably, crows and snakes). However you interpret them, Morte’s paintings offer the viewer a contemplative dive into symbolic darkness.

Images © Nick Morte

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